Album review - School of Seven Bells

• by Melissa Bobbitt
• Feb 25, 2012

SCHOOL OF SEVEN BELLS
Ghostory
Vagrant

It's fitting that School of Seven Bells named their newest release Ghostory because it is a blast from the past. Awash in Cure atmospherics and synths, this duo looks back to go forward. The album is a tale of loss, as singer Alejandra Deheza's sister, Claudia, bowed out of the band in 2010. It's of holding onto things that just aren't there anymore, of connections unraveling. ("You took me like a drug to make you feel loved," Deheza purrs scornfully in the Disintegration rock of "Scavenger.")
But SVIIB's adherence to all things old stunts them. Ghostory would have been of the zeitgeist of 2005 ... or 1985. But today, it sounds like walking through an electroclash graveyard occupied by Ladytron and the Faint.
The Muff-and-treble pedal guitars courtesy of Benjamin Curtis (formerly of Secret Machines) can appease those salivating for the arrival of the next Garbage record. And Deheza is a formidable heir apparent to Siouxsie Sioux. But the throwback quality permeating Ghostory attracts cobwebs.
Fancy a listen yourself? Stream the album below. Ghostory drops Feb. 28.